


Power for Love, Love for Power

by Charlottes_Sinbin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: (if you have suggestions for tags i missed please tell me), AND SO MUCH DEATH AND ANGST, Anal Sex, Angst, Blood, Death so much fucking Death, Gore, Graphic Description of Corpses, Graphic Description of Injury, I AM WARNING NOW, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Rough Sex, Secret Santa, THERE IS MCD, There is no happiness here only pain, Violence, for real, prepare thine buttholes for angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-23 02:11:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17071496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlottes_Sinbin/pseuds/Charlottes_Sinbin
Summary: When the Crown of Achievia is without a head to sit on, there is a Challenge issued. To all who wish to enter and have a chance of become the new Ruler.Alfredo and Trevor aim to become Kings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlphaVoyager](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaVoyager/gifts).



> Thank you so much to TJ and Max for letting me blarb at them about this fic. And a massive thank you to Krem who helped so fucking much with the hunting stuff for I was Jon Snow.
> 
> ALSO! I will say now. There is MCD, gore, angst and violent stuff.

To say that the Crown of Achievea has a bloody past is an understatement, passing over the years to Kings and Queens with their hands bloodied from the previous Ruler. The only way to gain the Crown properly is through blood, death and pain. There are tales about those who try to take the Crown without killing the previous Ruler. About how when they place the Crown on their head they died a painful death, flesh decaying and rotting from their bones, their blood boiling inside of them.

 

King Geoff the Just seizes the crown in a show of deadly force from the old King, King Joseph the Warmonger, Geoff’s father. He marries his lover who becomes known as King Jack the Gentle. They rule for twenty years before they’re betrayed by someone they trusted beyond everything.

 

Knight Haywood becomes King Ryan the Executioner after he cleaves the heads from his friends and lieges shoulders. The siren call of the Crown too strong for him to resist any longer, the craving for power pounding through his body louder than his own heartbeat. Whether or not he regrets his decision to brutally betray his friends for the Crown is never seen, a weakness he’s not willing to show if he does regret it or a sign of how cold and calculating he is if he doesn’t.

 

His rule like all of them is strong, the working class don’t give a shit who rules as long as they don’t fuck with the way they work too much. The Nobles are too cowardly and weak-willed to think about challenging his right to the throne. In their mind, whoever wears the Crown is the Ruler.

 

Which is why his rule is only seven years long. Years of watching his own back, of being aware of everything around him and yet after about four years of being King, he becomes comfortable enough to marry a noble from another country. A mistake that comes back to stab him in the back literally three years later when his husband takes advantages of his trust and thrusts a sword into his back.

 

And thus begins the reign of King Gavin the Celebrated, a reign that’s shorter than King Ryan’s. He reigns for five years before his own trusted Knight, the one who was heavily rumoured to be the King’s lover for over ten years, slits his throat as he’s sat on the throne.

 

He becomes King Michael the Wild, known for his temper and sword-fighting. He marries a Lady of the Court who anyone there could have told him was known for being lethally smart and desired power. So it’s to the surprise of no-one that she and her female lover garrotes him and take the Crown for their own.

 

Queen Lindsay the Enchanting and Queen Jack the Beguiling to no-one’s surprise only just last the year before they turn on each other, both of them dying and leaving the Crown without a wearer. Being the way they are, the Nobles  _ need _ a Ruler, a King or Queen. Everyone else could care less, they know how everything runs, they can live without a puppet-master trying to pull their strings.

 

After far too many people put the crown on in an attempt to force it into making them the new Ruler, the Nobles come to a decision to issue a challenge. A challenge that anyone can join and fight for the right to become Ruler. Which anyone can tell is just a way for them to throw bodies at the problem to see if that fixes it.

 

Which is what leads Alfredo and Trevor to this moment. To watching the Crown be lowered down onto Trevor’s head with everyone else’s breath held as they wait for either their new King or for the commoner to start screaming in agony. Alfredo and Trevor have their eyes locked on each other, both rock-steady in their belief that this will work. There’s no room in this moment for fear.

 

But Alfredo can’t help but to think back on how they got this far. Common folk to soon to be Kings.  
  


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

The first clear memory Alfredo has of Trevor is the day he met him for the first time. Back when he was a small child, only just two.  
  


He was carried by his Mama, still sleepy from his nap, over to one of his Mama’s friend’s house. There are lots of adults there, all around his Mama’s friend. Alfredo gets put down onto the ground next to the lady and the bundle she’s holding so Mama can talk to her and make noises over the bundle.

 

Ever curious about anything that takes his Mama’s attention away from him, Alfredo tries to see what’s in the bundle. He tugs repeatedly at Mama’s skirt until she turns to look at him.

 

“Up please, want to see.” He says and raises his arms up.

 

Rolling her eyes, his Mama picks him up and shows him what she was looking at, the lady turning the bundle so he can see easier.

 

It’s a baby, a small pale baby. Curious Alfredo reaches out to touch them and when his hand touches their face, they open their eyes. The baby grabs hold of one of Alfredo’s fingers and he’s lost. The baby is looking at him and Alfredo just knows one thing.

 

The other lady smiles at Alfredo. “This is my son Trevor. What do you think of him Alfredo honey?”

 

“Mine, Mama, mine.”

 

The adults laugh at him and Alfredo pouts. They don’t get it, adults are like that. Alfredo knows in his little toddler heart that Trevor is important and important things belong to Alfredo.

 

They leave after a while, Alfredo completely focused on Trevor. But when he can, he sneaks away to go visit him, getting to the point where if his Mama doesn’t know where he is, she goes to the Collins’s house to check next after her own house.

 

True to form, Alfredo is the one there when Trevor starts to be mobile, the only one that can calm him down when his teeth come in, the one that motivates Trevor to move from unsteady walking to running, his name is one of the first things that Trevor learns.

 

They’re nigh inseparable for the rest of their childhood, where one is, the other is sure to be nearby. Years go by and Alfredo never thinks about it changing, never thinks about the future. They’re Alfredo’n’Trevor, Trevor’n’Alfredo. They’ll never be apart

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Until the day where he’s talking to Trevor about the local blacksmith apprentice, about how he’s noticed how handsome they’ve become, how he wonders what the apprentice thinks of him. Alfredo doesn’t notice how quiet Trevor’s become until he stops rhapsodizing about the apprentice’s arms and turns to look at Trevor.

 

Trevor’s glaring at the ground, his arms crossed. Alfredo pokes him to get his attention and Trevor turns his glare from the ground to Alfredo.

 

“What’s wrong Trev?”

 

“The blacksmith’s apprentice?  _ That’s _ who you fucking notice?  _ That’s _ what you  _ see _ . You’re so fucking blind you bastard!” Trevor spits out.

 

“What are you talking about Trevor? What am I supposed to be seeing?”

 

Alfredo’s confused about this, about Trevor’s anger, he’s not seen anyone looking at him like that, like the way he’s looking at the apprentice. He’s about to ask Trevor more but Trevor answers any questions he could have possibly had by grabbing Alfredo and crashing their lips together.

 

It’s wet, sloppy and a little painful. Showing their age and inexperience with this sort of thing. Trevor pulls back and then shoves Alfredo roughly, making him fall back hard against the ground. Wind driven out of him Alfredo’s left watching Trevor get up and run away.

 

Alfredo’s so confused. Trevor likes him? But he would have seen it. Trevor’s his best friend! They know everything about each other!

 

But. He didn’t see this coming. He didn’t see that Trevor likes him. So he doesn’t know everything about Trevor. What else doesn’t he know?

 

Alfredo doesn’t move for the longest time and when he does eventually get up, instead of going to find Trevor, he goes home and hides for a week, to attempt to figure out what happened. It’s something he regrets for many years, not going straight to Trevor. Because by the time he finally goes to see Trevor, he’s gone.

 

When he asks Trevor’s parents, Alfredo learns that they’d been approached by one of the doctors that travelled through all of the villages of the Kingdom a few months ago to offer an apprenticeship to Trevor. He’d told them that he’d be back in a few months time to see what they’d decided. Trevor had agreed to the apprenticeship and left to meet the doctor about five days ago.

 

Alfredo’s devastated, his best friend is gone and it’s his fault. He should have gone to see Trevor sooner. He spends the next month burrowed in his bed, miserable and feeling very sorry for himself.

 

There’s only so much of that his parents can take so he ends up being dragged out to meet one of his father’s friends, Barnabas. A local hunter who spends most of his time in the woods, his parents managed to get him to agree to take Alfredo as an apprentice. Neither of them are happy with it, Barnabas prefering to be alone and Alfredo still depressed about Trevor but Barnabas made a deal and Alfredo has no choice so they make do.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Alfredo spends the next few years almost always with Barnabas, learning everything that he has to teach. Alfredo learns how to hunt, to track, to skin and slaughter his kills, how to use as much of his kills as possible. He learns about plantlife, about mushrooms, toadstools, fungus, which ones are safe for eating, which ones are good for healing and which ones are dangerous, even deadly, to eat or touch.

 

He learns many lessons from Barnabas about the wilds, about hunting, about being a man, even about the act of killing both animal and human but the latter of the two is kept between them. For instance, not leaving carcasses too close to the camp. Alfredo has the scars from a startled bear to remember that one by. Barnabas was close by luckily to scare off the bear, it was young and still fairly small for a bear to be alarmed of a six foot something mountain man bellowing at them.

 

One lesson that sticks with him for his entire life is one he learns when he’s about fifteen.

 

They’d been hunting a herd of deer for the past week, there’s a lame doe that’s been trailing behind the rest of the herd and one of the first things Barnabas taught him was to go for the weak and injured prey first, that killing those ones made the herd stronger and healthier.

 

He and Barnabas had split up to circle around the herd to get ready to strike when a sharp trill whistle from Barnabas makes Alfredo pause. It’s the whistle that’s used when there are other humans around and Barnabas is about to teach Alfredo a lesson involving the nastier side of what he’s learning.

 

So as much as he wants to continue hunting the deer, he listens to Barnabas and stalks away to where the call is coming from. When he gets there, Barnabas is lying on the ground near the peak of a hill that overlooks a small lake. It’s a pretty area, secluded away from almost all prying eyes, the local village teenagers like to go there to do things that would send their parents into frenzies.

 

Taking his cue from Barnabas, Alfredo drops to his belly and crawls forward to see what Barnabas is looking at.

 

“Tell me what you see down there boy.” Barnabas whispers.

 

Alfredo carefully scopes out the area. A group of young teenagers, around his age. Movement in the trees near the clearing. Horses grazing over to the side.

 

“Couple of guards in the trees, watching over the rich kids. Not paying that much attention. Seven rich kids messing around. Solid looking horses.” He whispers back.

 

"Do you think you could get them from here Boy?” Barnabas asked to Alfredo’s surprise. “I’m not asking you to kill them, just if you think you could.”

 

Alfredo watches them for a minute, thinking before he answers. “Not all of them by myself. Not right away. Go for the guards first. They’re being lazy, not paying attention. Harder to kill ‘cause they’re trained but if I’m to kill the kids, the guards need to go first. If I was patient, some of the kids would wander off with their partner or by themselves, easier to take out when alone. That’s if i wanted to kill them all. If it was for scaring them senseless, it’d be a few arrows fired at them, maybe landing one or two shots. Would have to be careful to not be seen though.”

 

“Good, good.” Barnabas grunts as they see one boy pick up another boy who screams out “Jeremy!” and throws him into the lake. “So what are they doing wrong.”

 

“They’re not aware of their surroundings. They assume because they have guards or because they’re rich that they’re safe. They don’t know what’s in the water or who’s watching them. Their guards are lazy, untrained or both.”

 

Barnabas crawls backwards and then gets up, Alfredo following suit. 

 

“Exactly. A lesson you need to remember. Just because you know the area or think you’re safe, doesn’t mean you are. Even with loved ones. You, we could have killed them all and no-one would have been the wiser. They would have been searched for but with no bodies or some simply trickery, it would have been thought that a bear or something got them.”'

 

Barnabas slaps Alfredo on the shoulder roughly. “Now c’mon Boy, we got some deer to hunt.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

It’s rough years growing up under Barnabas’s tutelage but Alfredo’s the better for it. He’ll never be the giant hulking mountain of a man Barnabas is, who can easily carry two deer at a time, one slung around his shoulders and the other in his arms. Alfredo can only carry one and it’s not at all as impressive as he has to carry it like it’s a teddy bear. An oversized dead deer teddy bear.

 

But he’s grown up strong, trained, hard-worked. He knows how to survive, how to kill both animals and human. He’s got scars and calluses. He can field dress a deer on average just under fifteen minutes. He can get rid of a human body in about the same time depending on if it’s to be seen as an animal kill or not.

 

Alfredo’s soaking up the sun on one of the rare days that Barnabas allows him to take now that he’s older. He’s sprawled out in the grass in the hide-hole where he and Trevor used to go to whenever they could. He’s relaxing, almost near sleep when the skin crawling feeling of being watched happens.

 

He doesn’t react, running through where his weapons are, the ways out. Alfredo knows that it can’t be a bear or another large predator, the way up to where he is is too small for them to move along safely. A smaller predator could easily get up here but most of them would leave him alone unless starving or rabid. So it’s a human watching him. And if they were friendly, they would have announced themselves.

 

He waits and listens, tracking where the person is. It’s someone used to walking quietly, unnoticed, not a hunter, steps are a little too fast. Would spook away the prey. Knows where not to walk though. Alfredo set up little noise traps that animals and untrained humans would set off which this person hasn’t.

 

There! Alfredo rolls up, grabbing his bow and notching an arrow, smoothly aiming at the person. It’s a guy about his age, tall, lanky, handsome, looks strangely familiar.

 

“I can shoot faster than you can get to me.” He warns, tracking the man as they shift in place.

 

“Such a nice way to greet an old friend Fredo. I know we haven’t seen each other in years but surely you recognise me?” The man says, a smile spreading over his face.

 

Alfredo pauses, thinks for a second and then looks at the guy’s face once more. It can’t be.

 

“Trevor?”

 

“Alfredo!” Trevor replies and opens his arms wide in a ta-dah gesture.

 

Alfredo lowers his bow.

 

“ _ Trevor? _ ” He says again, incredulous.

 

“ _ Alfredo! _ ”

 

Alfredo drops his bow and arrows, launching himself forward into Trevor, taking them both down to the ground. He feels Trevor tensing up below him, like he’s expecting Alfredo to start hitting him. But Alfredo would  _ never _ . Instead he wraps himself around Trevor in a tight hug like Trevor’s going to try and run away.

 

“I’m sorry Trevor, I’m so fucking sorry. I should have went to see you sooner before you left to go with that doctor.” 

 

Alfredo feels Trevor relax and his arms come up to hug Alfredo back.

 

“It’s alright Alfredo, really. Neither of us were really ready. You had no idea that I had a crush on you back then and I was too young to fully understand what it meant.”

 

Alfredo hums in agreement before lifting his head up to look at Trevor.

 

“So if I was to give you back that kiss now, is that alright?”

 

Trevor gives him a small smile. “Well I’d have to give you a new kiss to give me back.”

 

Alfredo leans down and gently kisses Trevor who returns the kiss. Which quickly turns from gentle innocent kissing to hot frantic kisses and Trevor rolling them over so he can press down on Alfredo. Parting Alfredo’s legs so he can nestle between them and trail his biting kisses down Alfredo’s jaw to his neck where he sets to leaving bite-marks.

 

“ _ Fuck _ Alfredo. I’ve missed you so much. Going to show you how much, leave you  _ aching _ . Give you something to remember me with when I have to leave again.”

 

Alfredo whines, curling his legs up around Trevor’s hips as he forcefully grinds into Alfredo, giving Alfredo an idea of what Trevor is going to do to him to leave him aching.

 

“Please Trevor,  _ please _ yes! Give me everything you have!”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

A few years later and Alfredo’s gone up in the world according to his mother. It had been heavily ‘suggested’ to a lot of the men of a certain age that it would be smart to join the military and as he was in that age range, he was pulled out of the job, the life, that he much preferred and forced into a job where he was trained to fight like a soldier.

 

Where he spent three years getting screamed at by men who thought that they were big dogs, thought that since they had titles and badges they were untouchable. Alfredo barely resisted stabbing some of them when they spat insults at him about his lack of wealth, like he was the only poor person dragged into this bullshit. Rich cunts the lot of them.

 

At least he had Trevor’s visits to look forward too.  _ He _ wasn’t dragged into this farce simply because they never found him or the doctor he worked with. And if he happened to mention to Trevor about one or two of the more detestable titled soldiers and they happened to have… accidents, well that was his secret.

 

Three years of this and he’d finally passed whatever test they were doing but instead of going to a fight or to a dangerous place like he presumed he would (one of many poor people, drafted, not well trained, basically fodder), Alfredo ends up in one of the cities as a patrol soldier. Stuck listening to people whinge and complain to him about stupid things that they could easily fix themselves and being the whipping boy for the rich folk of the city.

 

Sometimes he’d rather be out fighting or in a dangerous place. At least then he could get away with killing people when they pissed him off.

 

So now he’s stuck in a city crammed full of people, animals and buildings. It smells rancid, it’s claustrophobic and he misses the freedom of the countryside, he misses being able to fall asleep under the stars, to run and hunt. Alfredo’s ‘lucky’ enough to have found a place to live, if you call a tiny room in a building that would be better used as a pigsty a place to live. The only thing that’s keeping him sane are the visits from Trevor.

 

After a day of rounds through the city, dealing with squabbling traders and a particularly pissy Lordling who was under the belief that because of his station and money, he could order about people including Alfredo. Unfortunately in Alfredo’s case, the Lordling was correct. If Alfredo taught him some manners, it would be Alfredo who would get in trouble. It pisses Alfredo off to no end.

 

It’s a relief when his shift is over and he can go rest for a few hours. It’s an even bigger relief when he notices the small marking just underneath the doorknob to his room, the marking Trevor uses when he visits. The marking is the only reason Alfredo doesn’t kill Trevor when he enters his room and Trevor grabs him, pinning him against the wall with a knife digging into his throat. Trevor knew that the only one with a reason to come in would be Alfredo so he’s naked.

 

“Trevor.” Alfredo purrs out, meeting Trevor’s heated gaze. “You had a good hunt then?”

 

The knife digs in deeper and Alfredo tips his head back, baring his throat further to Trevor. Trevor bares his teeth in a predatory smile and leans in closer, his weight pushing Alfredo harder against the wall. Trevor slides his knife over to the side of Alfredo’s throat so he can set his teeth to the meat of his shoulder and digs his teeth in deep.

 

Alfredo moans at the sharp pain but gently pushes at Trevor until with a growl he backs off a little bit.

 

“As much as I love you, I am  _ not _ getting fucked against these walls, they’re barely a step up from an alley wall. The bed. Claim me there.”

 

With a snap of his wrist Trevor sends his knife flying into the thin wall to his right and grabs hold of Alfredo’s hair, dragging him over to the bed, shoving him down onto it. Alfredo lands with an oomph and twists onto his back so he can see Trevor.

 

Trevor crawls onto the bed and on top of Alfredo, looking very much like the predator he is. He yanks at Alfredo’s trousers and Alfredo raises his hips so Trevor can take them down easier. Alfredo’s fully expecting Trevor to keep moving and take his shoes and trousers completely so he’s startled when instead Trevor takes them down enough for Trevor to be able to wrap his hand around Alfredo’s cock and no further.

 

He presses sharp bites to Alfredo’s mouth, taking savage kisses from him, as he roughly makes sure that Alfredo is fully hard. Which isn’t hard since Alfredo was ready the moment he had Trevor’s knife digging into his throat.

 

Alfredo gasps as Trevor pulls back from the kisses and settles himself up over Alfredo. He feels the way Trevor guides his cock to where he wants it and Alfredo grabs at his arms.

 

“Wait Trevor! What about slick? You haven’t been stretc- _ hnnnn _ !”

 

Alfredo’s protest gets cut off when Trevor shoves down and Alfredo’s cock pushes into him easily. Alfredo’s grip on Trevor’s arms tightens and his eyes roll back in pleasure. It’s been so long since he’s been the one fucking instead of getting fucked, it’s a little intense.

 

Alfredo squirms underneath Trevor as he tries not to thrust, he knows the mood that Trevor’s in. He  _ was _ expecting to get brutally fucked until he was hoarse instead of roughly ridden but he doesn’t mind either way. He can hear Trevor’s rough chuckles as he fights to be good for him and not move.

 

Trevor only waits long enough for his own body to relax and then he starts to fuck himself down onto Alfredo. Alfredo’s left moaning under him and under his control, just how both of them like it.

 

Alfredo fights to open his eyes to watch Trevor ride him, he’s so used to being able to close his eyes and enjoy the feeling of getting fucked but it’s so very rare that Trevor is the one with a cock in him that Alfredo  _ needs _ to see it. When he manages to open his eyes, he’s meet with the burning gaze of Trevor and the sharp grin he’s wearing.

 

Trevor drags his nails up Alfredo’s sides, over his chest and then he takes a gentle hold of Alfredo’s nipples. If it wasn’t for the grin, Alfredo wouldn’t be worried, Trevor being fond of playing with his nipples.

 

“Tre-trevor!” He gasps out and the sharp grin just gets bigger.

 

The gentle hold turns into a vicious pinch and twist. Alfredo howls in pain, his back arching up to try to lessen it without avail. His body twists under Trevor, heaving and rolling, Trevor riding out the frantic movements until Alfredo manages to calm down enough to relax a little.

 

Alfredo looks at the smug grin on Trevor’s face and decides that he wants to wipe it off of him. With a snarl, Alfredo forcefully rolls them over so he’s on top of Trevor. He throws Trevor’s legs over his shoulders and presses down onto Trevor. Alfredo starts to savagely hammer into Trevor, pinning his hands against his chest. Delighting in the way Trevor’s face goes lax in pleasure, the smug smile fading.

 

“Is  _ this _ what you wanted Trevor? Being pinned down and taken like a bitch?” Alfredo growls. “Because I can do that. And like any good bitch, you either cum from my cock or not at all.”

 

Trevor moans and Alfredo can feel the way he fights to try to regain control but Alfredo has him pinned down too well and all it takes is Alfredo yanking hard on Trevor’s hair for him to relax underneath Alfredo, finally understanding that this time he’s not in control.

 

Alfredo realises that this is what Trevor needed as it doesn’t take long for Trevor to start whining and Alfredo feels the way his legs tremble hard on Alfredo’s shoulders, Trevor clutching tight around his cock and coating himself in his cum.

 

If Alfredo was a kinder man, he’d pull out and jerk off, but he’s not a kinder man and Trevor deserves this, even  _ needs _ this. So he keeps fucking into Trevor, through his orgasm, through the aftershocks, to the point where the pleasure is almost too much and Trevor’s starting to tear up.

 

Alfredo’s not willing to let up on Trevor, holding onto his self-control as much as he can and he can feel the way his own body is shaking with need but Trevor’s not told him to yet. Even now, Trevor’s still in control.

 

“Fredo, please,  _ please,  _ **_please_ ** , cum in me, I’ve been good, you’ve been good. You can cum, come on.” Trevor begs, finally speaking.

 

Alfredo sobs as permission is  _ finally _ given and fucks deep into Trevor before shuddering hard as he cums into Trevor in heavy pulses. He lets go of Trevor’s arms and feels Trevor move his legs from Alfredo’s shoulders to around his waist, keeping Alfredo close. Alfredo presses desperate kisses against Trevor’s mouth, Trevor turning them gentle.

 

“Such a good boy for me Alfredo.” He croons softly, running his hands down Alfredo’s back soothingly. “So good. Knew what I needed you to do and did it so well.”

 

Alfredo hums happily. He was a good boy.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Later on when they were both cleaned up and they were both more level-minded, Trevor finally says what he’d came to Alfredo to say before the hunt-lust had taken over him.

 

Alfredo….. does not like it at all.

 

“No. No. No. No.” He snaps, pacing his room still naked. “ _ No _ . That is such a bad idea it’s not even funny Trevor!”

 

“What part?” Trevor ask, lounging on the bed amused.

 

Alfredo sharply points at him. “What part!? What part!? How about the fact that it’s a fucking Challenge for the  _ Crown _ . How about the fact that it’s a death sentence for anyone in it! How about the fact that even if we survived to win, neither of us know  _ shit _ about ruling! How about the fact that neither of us are trained enough to even survive! I’m a hunter with some shitty soldier training and you’re a ‘doctor’ which whilst it’s good on a one to one fight or even a three to one, it’s jack shit against more than that! The other competitors are  _ Lords _ ! Rich folk with  _ years  _ of training! What the  _ fuck _ could  _ we _ do against them!”

 

“Rich folk, pah.” Trevor snorts and waves his hand to dismiss that fact. “Please, this is a  _ test _ by them. They’re not going to waste the ones with brains or the skill in this. The Lords we’d fight are the throwaways, the  _ spares _ .”

 

He sits up on the bed and gestures around him at the shitty room they’re in. “And really, do you want to keep living  _ here _ ? In this shithole? You’re not linked well enough to get a better placement, to get more money, to get out of here. If you try to leave, to retire, to go back home, they won’t let you. They’ll say that you’re deserting or some bullshit and kill you.”

 

Alfredo snatches up Trevor’s wine pouch and drinks from it , trying to give himself time to think. He only takes one mouthful before he’s pulling back with a disgusted look on his face.

 

“ _ Fuck me _ Trevor! What is this wine?! If you’re trying to poison me, at least do it with a better wine! Anyway I could run! I know enough about the wilds to not be found. And I’m just one of many low level ‘soldiers’ in this city. I wouldn’t be missed. Besides, what if I like it here? It’s not much but it’s mine!”

 

Trevor looks at him. “Really. You like it  _ here _ . My Heart, it’s not safe at all. People die here all the time, it’s filthy and more importantly you’re not  _ happy _ here in the city. It’s slowly killing you. Neither of us are made to live in cities long-term. To be surrounded by the heaving disgusting mass of people. We’re hunters, predators, beasts and we are meant to live in the country.”

 

Alfredo grabs at the next thing he can think of. “What about the magic on the Crown! It’s said to kill whoever tries to put it on without having killed the previous Ruler! I may not be happy here but I still don’t want to fucking  _ die _ for a shiny trinket and some power!”

 

Knowing that he’s winning, Trevor reaches out to Alfredo and pulls him down onto the bed next to him.

 

“I did some digging on that actually. It’s amazing how little the Nobles actually see of the servants. I read some of the older Noble houses history books. The Crown only kills those who don’t offer it enough death. The magic on it just states that the Ruler’s death is the best way.”

 

Alfredo sighs. “So us killing enough Lords and Lordlings would most likely ‘impress’ the Crown magic enough to not horrifically kill us?”

 

Trevor smiles, he’s won. “Yes most likely, Alfredo. Neither of us are bothered about killing people. Neither of us are happy with being here. I say we either go out slicing throats or we wear that Crown.”

 

Alfredo leans against Trevor. “Fine. But you upset my good mood from earlier. I demand that you make it better.”

 

Trevor rolls them over so he’s on top of Alfredo. “Well if you  _ demand _ it my Heart, who am I to say no?”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

It’s a long trek from their city; one made for the dirtier side of things, the blacksmiths and the tanners for example, to the city where the Challenge is being held; one made for the Nobles, where all poor people and necessary but ugly things like sewage are tucked away out of sight.

 

They manage to hitch a ride on a cart every now and again but almost all of it is on foot. Not that that bothers them at all, having walked all their life. Alfredo hunts and gathers food for them when their meager travel food runs out a few days in.

 

Alfredo’s relieved to find that three years of learning to be a soldier hasn’t gotten rid of the eleven years of being trained by Barnabas. He didn’t think it would but he was worried. Being in the woods, hunting animals, foraging, sleeping under the stars. It settles something deep inside of him, something primal. Trevor was right, he was slowly dying in the city and he was too stubborn to see it.

 

He’s almost disappointed when they finally reach the outskirts of the city but Trevor’s excitement at seeing the city keeps him from saying anything. It takes a while to get deeper into the city, to even find where they need to go to join the Challenge.

 

It’s a temple to the Mother, a much more grandiose one than either of them have seen before. Made from almost pure white stone, gilded with what looks to be gold, it would almost be amazing to see if it wasn’t for the fact that they both know that this wasn’t built with the Mother in mind. It’s been built to satisfy the Nobles need to be seen as better than everyone else. The Mother didn’t care who you are or where you came from, She listened to all prayers.

 

They ignore the looks they get from people as they walk up the steps to join the crowd of Nobles that are waiting for the High Priest to come talk to them. The closest Nobles notice them and back away, scared to dirty themselves. Alfredo almost wants to reach out and touch them, freak them out, but he restrains himself barely.

 

The braziers lining the walls inside of the temple all burst into flame at the same time, used as both announcing the High Priest’s arrival and as a show of magical power by him. Alfredo hears Trevor softly snort at the almost subtle grandstanding.

 

“Lords and Ladies, I am here to talk about the great Challenge we, the Priesthood, have announced for the grand prize that is becoming the next Ruler of these lands. Anyone is allowed to join the Challenge, the more the merrier. We have three Tests for the challengers to run, the winner is the last one alive at the end of all three. So this is the time to decide whether or not this is something you wish to do because once you join the Challenge, you’ll not be able to leave. Those who wish to challenge, come back here tomorrow midday and the Challenge will start.”

 

The fires blaze up bright and snuff out all at once, leaving them blinking away the bright spots in their vision, the High Priest disappearing.

 

Spectacle now over, the Nobles slowly start to leave, some of the more ruder ones shoving into Alfredo and Trevor. The pair also leave, knowing what they need to know and neither of them willing to stay around these rich sops much longer.

 

Once they’re further away from both the temple and the Nobles, Trevor laughs to himself and taps at Alfredo.

 

“Let’s go find a expensive tavern Alfredo. Spend our last night in some goddamn luxury. Take a bath in hot water, fuck in a soft bed, eat some fancy food and drink!”

 

Alfredo looks at Trevor with a look that clearly says ‘With what fucking money you idiot’ and Trevor holds up a money-pouch that’s not his.

 

“Those rich folk don’t need all this money now do they.” Trevor grins.

 

Alfredo rolls his eyes but follows Trevor anyway. He’s not wrong.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

When Midday comes around, they’re both in the temple waiting for the High Priest to appear. There are Nobles also waiting in the temple, one of whom seems to be interested in them. They’d spent some money on some better, sturdier clothes, shoes and a haircut. All that along with the bath helps them blend in a bit better, not clearly peasants, looking more like the people who live in the city but certainly not Noble.

 

They keep an eye on the Noble whilst looking like they’re not. They’re both very aware that anyone here will try to kill them very shortly, everyone else is an enemy.

 

Trevor intertwines his fingers with Alfredo’s and leans in close to him, looking like he’s just pressing his face to his lovers. “Possible ‘friend’?”

 

Alfredo hums in agreement and they casually wander their way over to the Noble. Alfredo following Trevor’s lead on talking with them, since he knows more about this side of things.

 

“Hello!” Trevor says with a smile that to Alfredo looks weird, more toothy than his normal one. “I’m Trevor and this is Alfredo.” And offers his hand to the Noble.

 

“Jeremy Dooley, a pleasure to meet you.” The Noble, Jeremy, says, shaking Trevor’s hand. “I’m from the Westlands, you?”

 

Trevor gestures between himself and Alfredo. “We’re both from the East, near Lord Downwell’s land. We heard about the Challenge and thought it’d be worth a go, didn’t expect so many Nobles though. Would you be able to enlighten us as to why?”

 

“Oh that’s easy. They’re either a child born after the fourth one or their family aren’t as rich as they’re putting forward and they’re hoping that one of them will become the Ruler. The first child becomes the heir, the second becomes military, the third joins the Priesthood, the fourth is used for marriage and the rest are spares in case something happens to one of the four.”

 

Alfredo focuses on keeping his face clean of any disapproval, it’s weird to him that Nobles are like that. When you’re poor, every child has something they can become, something they can work on. There’s no room for people who can’t help earn when it’s the difference between food and no food.

 

“Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for your help Jeremy. I assume that you’re also joining the Challenge?”

 

Jeremy’s answer is cut off by the High Priest’s arrival in yet another flashy way. Grandstanding motherfucker with his bright lights and explosions. It works on getting the Nobles attention which was the point but it’s so fucking annoying to Alfredo.

 

“My Lords and Ladies, I am delighted to see so many of you here today. This will be a fine Challenge for the Crown indeed! Now I have been requested to say that this is the last time anyone can back out of the Challenge and that there’s no shame in doing so. After all, these aren’t Tasks for just  _ anyone _ . These are Tasks created to find the ones suited to become our new Ruler!”

 

The High Priest pauses for a minute, watching, waiting and when nobody moves he smiles. His smile looks like a grandfather’s smile, warm and comforting, full of years of wisdom and knowledge. It makes Alfredo want to stab him in the face.

 

The High Priest raises his arms up into the air and the fire flare up with him. He drops them and it goes pitch black as the fire goes out, as it feels like even the Sun goes out. In the darkness Alfredo hears deep rumbling and creaking, groans of something heavy moving. He feels his stomach drop and his ears pop. A little scared he reaches out and grabs Trevor, feeling Trevor grab him back.

 

Alfredo can hear the Nobles around him yell and scream but he refuses to make a sound that loud. It’d show weakness. Light slowly fades back in and Alfredo gasps in amazement, directing Trevor’s gaze to what he’s looking at.

 

They’re inside of an immense cavern, the roof so far above them a giant could comfortably stand with plenty of room to spare. Massive natural pillars form the sides of the cavern, dark slate grey splattered with blue luminescent plants and moss. The luminescence from the plants helps to light up the space alongside the small fireballs floating throughout the cavern.

 

In front of them is a huge wall with a gap large enough for several people at a time. It looks like the wall just grew up out of the floor, smoothly merging with the rock. Alfredo can see that the wall curves off into the distance, not the sharp line of a normal wall.

 

“ **Challengers!** ” The High Priest booms in a voice that’s not his own. “ **There are three Tests that face all of you. This is the First. A circular maze that’s too tall to climb out of, too deep to dig out of, where the only way out is in the middle as the entrance will seal shut behind the last of you, locking you in. Your First Task is simple. Get to the middle alive.** ”

 

Briefly shaken by the thing in the High Priest’s body, nobody moves until a man who’s clearly the leader of his group of Nobles scoffs loudly into the silence and stomps off into the maze, closely followed by his fellows.

 

When Jeremy goes to follow another group, Alfredo reaches out and snags his shirt, making him stop. Jeremy turns to Alfredo and looks at his hand holding onto Jeremy’s shirt.

 

“Why’d you stop me?” He asks.

 

“Didn’t you hear the High Priest? Our Task is get to the middle of the maze  _ alive _ . Why not simply get to the middle. Why  _ alive _ ? It’s a trick for the stupid and the brash. They storm ahead believing that they’ll win and they’ll die.  **_Listen_ ** .” Alfredo entreats.

 

They all pause and quietly listen along with some of the other Nobles who saw them stop. In silence they wait, hearing the others jeering and yelling inside of the maze.

 

And then there’s a piercing scream of agony, followed by another and then another.

 

The faces of the Nobles and Jeremy all pale as they realise what Alfredo means.

 

“ _ That’s _ why you wait. Because the prideful and the reckless go in and the traps the Priests placed inside get set off, killing them. After all, this  _ is _ a Challenge to the death for the Crown. No-one wants a stupid prideful Ruler.”

 

Alfredo sighs and starts walking into the maze, Trevor walking besides him and Jeremy behind him. 

 

“Good luck in the maze.” He throws back at the Nobles shakily standing at the entrance of it.

 

There’s a choice immediately as they enter, Jeremy splitting off from them to go to the left as they go to the right. They’re now firmly into the Challenge. It’s kill or be killed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS WHEN SHIT STARTS TO GET REAL GOREY AND DETAILED WITH DEATH AND KILLING. WARNING NOW.  
> Also for those who want to know what the Maze looks like, here ya go - https://66.media.tumblr.com/0b0183188e37e515521adb4534531028/tumblr_pk0e5pV5Mi1rwx74wo1_540.jpg

They walk forward down the corridor, trying to keep an eye out for anything that could set off a trap. Alfredo checks out the two right side ends to make sure they don’t go anywhere even though he’s pretty sure that they’re against the outer wall. Cleared, he goes back to Trevor and they continue on, turning left and walking down a path that’s winding like a snake.

 

At the end they reach their first proper choice. They can keep going forward or they can go to their right. Going to their right leads them down another snake like path and as they turn the last corner to see a dead end greeting them, Trevor cries out in alarm as the floor under his feet starts to crumble away.

 

Alfredo grabs hold of Trevor before he can fall with the floor and drags him further back as the hole keeps getting longer. They hurry back around the corner and watch as the hole reaches the corner and stops, the noise of falling rock slowly fading away.

 

Curious, Alfredo slowly inches forward until he can look into the pit that Trevor almost fell into. It’s so deep that he can’t see an end, it’s just dark. He nudges a loose bit of rock and listens to it fall, waiting for it to hit the bottom. Either there’s no bottom or it’s so far down Alfredo can’t hear the noise of it landing.

 

He retreats back to Trevor. “That’s one deep ass pit Trev, it’s a good thing I caught you.”

 

“Really good. Not a fan of falling to my death.” Trevor croaks, a little pale as he looks at the place where he was standing.

 

They go back to where they chose to go right and this time they go forwards. A couple of minutes later and they reach yet another choice to make, this time whether to go left or right. Their right looks to only have one way to go and the left has three, so to better their chances they go left.

 

Choosing the middle path, they barely go a few steps before they’re met by the crushed body of a Noble man. His bones are smashed and broken, protruding through the torn skin, a mess of blood, brains, piss and shit splattered across the stone. It’s a horrendous smell and they gag a little, backing away.

 

“It kind of looks like when you flirted with that butcher's apprentice and she accidently made that sausage explode from letting too much meat into the skin.” Alfredo remarks.

 

“You know what, it does. That’s a little funny actually.” Trevor says, his mouth curling up in amusement.

 

“So that’s a trap right?”

 

“Oh for sure.”

 

“Right-side this time then?”

 

They go back and turn down the right-side choice, getting just as far down this time. Alfredo yelling in alarm when a body barrels into him, pinning him against the wall. Immediately he starts to fight back, clawing, kicking and biting. He can feel Trevor attacking the person as well but nothing seems to be working.

 

Alfredo slams his head into his attacker’s and stunned, the man drops him. Trevor helps him up and they back away from the bastard. The Noble shakes his head, then screams animalistically at them. The veins in his neck and face are black and look like they’re pulsing, his eyes are bloodshot and his mouth is covered in blood.

 

“The trap.” Trevor hisses out. “Let’s lead him there.”

 

The Noble screams again and then charges at them. They flee back around the corner, the Noble screaming as he chases them. They stop just before where they think the trap starts and dodge out of the way of the Noble.

 

He has faster reactions then they thought he’d have and he sharply turns around before he can set off the trap. Thinking fast, Alfredo shoves him as hard as he can, Trevor catching on to what he’s trying to do and also shoving him.

 

With a grunt, he falls back to where the remains of the other Noble is. There’s a deep grinding noise and then before the Noble can do anything, the stone wall to the far left  _ slams _ him into the other wall.

 

It’s a horrific crunching, squelching noise, blood and gore spurting out from between the rock sandwich. The wall slowly starts to move back into place and some of the remains of the Noble stretch out like string where its stuck to the moving wall before falling to the ground with a wet slapping sound. The crushed head of the Noble has what looks to be intestines forced up and out of the mouth.

 

“Well.” Alfredo weakly says. “That’s one hell of a trap. I say we ignore the rest of this left way and go right instead.”

 

They walk back to the right side they ignored and start going down it. They soon reach another spilt in the path and since going right has been the better way, they turn down the right hand path. They ignore the next left choice and keep going straight.

 

Going round the corner, they’re greeted by the corpse of a female Noble. She’s pierced with tens of arrows, the ones sunk into her throat and face look to be the ones that killed her. Looking at the wall closest to them, where it would have been to the lady’s back, Alfredo spots small holes where the arrows would have been fired out from. They’re very hard to see, even for him so she had no chance.

 

Thankfully for what Alfredo’s thinking off, she’d died with her legs close to them. He crouches down and reaches out, grabbing the ankle closest to him. He carefully pulls her body towards them and out of the trap.

 

Alfredo kneels down next to her body and starts to pull some of the more salvageable arrows out of her. Trevor crouches down next to him.

 

“Why?” He asks, knowing that Alfredo would have a reason, he wouldn’t disrespect a body like that else.

 

Alfredo clusters the arrows he’s gathered so far into his hand and makes a stabbing motion with it. “A weapon. Not much of one true, but a damn sight better than nothing. That Noble won’t be the only one waiting to kill someone, we need something to give us an edge.”

 

Trevor makes a noise of understanding and starts to help pull out arrows, checking with Alfredo that the ones he gets are serviceable.

 

Once they’ve gathered all of the arrows they can, Alfredo splits them, giving half to Trevor. Then following the logic that a trap means to not go that way, they turn around and start back to the first left turning.

 

They’re coming up to the second left turning, now a right turning, when Trevor makes Alfredo stop. He gestures to the corner and mouths ‘person waiting’.  Trevor crouches down slightly and creeps around the corner, arrows at the ready.

 

Alfredo starts to follow, also creeping, and hears more than sees Trevor kill whoever was waiting for them. There’s a loud gurgle and a quiet thump and when Alfredo turns the corner, Trevor is standing over the twitching body of yet another Noble dumb enough to try and attack them. This one’s throat is torn open, Trevor having jammed the arrowheads into their neck and yanking to the side.

 

“Not the cleanest kill you’ve done I bet.” Alfredo remarks.

 

Trevor shakes his hand trying to get what looks to be a chunk of throat off of his arrows. “Not at all. We should keep going, ignore this way in case there’s friends of this poor bastard.”

 

They go down the first left, now right, from earlier and as they walk and check out the small side-corridors Trevor asks “You know, you never actually told me how you knew what I actually did.”

 

Alfredo laughs. “Love, despite your ability to fool everyone else, you and your mentor could  _ never _ fool me or Barnabas. I’m sure that you learnt doctor things, it is after all a great way into people’s houses, but neither of you  _ move _ right for a doctor. Barnabas spent eleven years training me how to hunt both animals and humans. You think he never taught me how to spot another predator? I knew you weren’t learning to be just a doctor the  _ moment _ that we met as adults.”

 

“Ah.” Trevor says, taken aback. “Sooo, my excuses?”

 

“I knew that you were off killing someone. Good excuses, worked on everyone else.”

 

They come out into a straight corridor that has a left and right choice once more at the far end. What makes them pause is that they can see a blood trail that goes between the two choices. As they listen intently, faintly they can hear what sounds like a woman sobbing along with raspy breathing.

 

Wary for traps they walk to the end, where looking at the blood trail, it looks like it starts further up the left side and moves into the right side. They follow the blood trail right to where they heard the sounds coming from.

 

It looks like there’s three people on the floor just down the corridor but as they get closer, they realise that it’s actually two and a half. The half being the top half of some poor bastard, their bottom half is just gone, intestines spilled out onto the floor, flesh raw and eaten away, smoking just a little bit.

 

The other two Nobles are fucked  _ up _ , it’s a little surprising that they’re still alive. But it’s clear that they’re dying, just slowly and in agonising pain, no-one could survive what’s happened to them for long.

 

The male Noble is the one that’s making the rasping breathing noises. His legs are eaten away, chunks gone. The flesh of the right side of his torso has also been eaten away, gaping holes where they can see his insides shifting around as his body fights to breathe through lungs that are torn apart. Like with the half-body, where his flesh has been eaten away there’s smoke slowly rising.

 

The sobbing is coming from the Noble lady, she’s also what left the blood trail over to here. She’s bleeding out slowly but the worst part is what’s happened to her. That a good part of the left side of her face is just bone, her left eye partially gone and oozing down the exposed bone. Her left arm all the way up to her shoulder, her left hip and leg are also just bone.

 

The weird thing about her injuries is that it hasn’t affected her clothes, just her flesh. Also the fact that it’s a clean cut from her flesh to bone, not ragged tearing or splotched burning, instead it just looks like there wasn’t flesh there to begin with if it wasn’t for the fact that they can see the blood and flesh left behind from the cuts.

 

When they get closer to her, to her right side where she still has a working eye, she sees them and starts garbling at them. It sounds like she’s trying to speak, trying to warn them about something but with most of her mouth and tongue gone, it’s very hard to understand her.

 

But they try and it sounds like she’s saying “The shadows.” When they ask her if that’s what she said, she starts garbling out what sounds like a yes. Alfredo thanks her for her warning and then calmly reaches out and breaks her neck, killing her. He does the same to the other Noble and then stands up with a sigh.

 

“Those were mercy killings, look at them, that’s a slow painful death. Neither of them were going to be able to move. It was the kindest thing we could do for them.” He says when Trevor gives him a weird look.

 

They go back to where they saw the blood trail coming from and it leads them to their first crossroads. Going back isn’t something they’re going to do, forwards looks fairly clear, to the right looks a little dark but also clear.

 

To their left is a pit filled with yellow liquid, it’s tinted pink with blood and even at this distance, they can see bones and chunks of flesh floating in the liquid. Obviously the rest of two of the Nobles back there. It’s an certain death going that way so the left is struck from the list.

 

Alfredo’s about to go check out the right side when Trevor stops him, he’s looking at the corridor with suspicion. “Why is that way darker than everywhere else? There’s a torch right here so it shouldn’t be that shadowy. Stay here for a second and keep away from the shadows.”

 

Trevor goes back the way they came and comes back carrying the female Noble’s body. “Watch.” He says and throws the body into the right-hand corridor. Fabric and bones clatter to the floor seconds later, the flesh completely stripped from her.

 

“Oh  _ fuck _ me that’s scary. Thank the Mother you thought to do that.”

 

With only forward left to go, they start walking. And walking. And walking. They must be going in the right direction since this way has so little deviation to take.

 

When they  _ do _ finally get to another place to choose a way to go, it’s immediately obvious that they should go left, as to the right there are two dead Nobles.

 

The first Noble would just look like he dropped dead if it wasn’t for the fact that their skin is deathly pale, their mouth is blue and their eyes are bulging out of their sockets.

 

“Poison.” Trevor guesses. “I don’t see any immediate wounds or places where it could have stabbed in so it’s not venom. There’s nothing to eat or drink here, so I’m thinking that he breathed it in.”

 

The Noble body just past the first is charred beyond all recognition, the walls and floor burnt black in a three foot radius around the crispy corpse.

 

“They must of thought that there was only one trap and therefore it was safe.” Alfredo remarks dryly.

 

Going to the right isn’t possible so instead they go left and then left again. They turn the corner and see a group of three Nobles impaled in a nest of long needle-shaped spikes jutting out from the walls and floor.

 

They both look at that mess and say “Fuck that.”

 

As they walk the other way left to them, it’s yet another long walk with very little deviation, there’s four side parts that Alfredo darts in and out of to check but other than that, the only way is forward.

 

They hear noisy crackling up ahead and when they turn the corner they see a series of metal rods sunk into the ground. The rods are vibrating and humming lowly but the crackling noise is coming from the lightning that is dancing and jumping between them all. In the middle of them is the smoking body of the Noble that set off the trap.

 

With a sigh they turn around the next corner where there’s two right ways to go, they go for the one at the far end and Alfredo yells as he’s grabbed by two large male Nobles, seeing two more go for Trevor.

 

He fights against the two holding him as best he can, kicking, biting and clawing like a trapped animal. One kick manages to land square on one of the men’s cock and they yell in pain, letting go of Alfredo’s arms which gives him a chance to grab the arrows he’d tucked into his belt.

 

Alfredo twists around as best he can and jams the arrows into the face of the Noble behind him. The man screams in agony and Alfredo feels the way that some of the arrows have more give in them and he shoves harder, pushing the arrows deeper, feeling the man’s eye pop.

 

He collapses onto the ground, dead from arrows shoved through his eyes into his brain. Alfredo shoves against the body before it can take him to the ground and leave him trapped.

 

The man he kicked in the crotch is stumbling to his knees, really pissed off.  Alfredo doesn’t let him finish getting up, kicking as hard as he can against the Noble’s bent knee, hearing it crunch. The noble screaming in pain and falling back, Alfredo not letting up on the attack, pressing forward.

 

Alfredo snaps his arm when the Noble tries to grab him and shoves him hard against the wall. He doesn’t go for a neck snap, too hard to do right now, he has no arrows left and no other weapons. So he does the only thing he can think to do in his kill or be killed state of mind.

 

He tears the Noble’s throat out with his teeth. Digging his teeth into where he knows is one of the weak points of a neck, feeling the way the flesh splits under his teeth, gristly rending, the taste of copper flooding his mouth.

 

Yanking his head back, he tears out a large chunk of flesh, spits it out and dives in to savage another chunk out to make sure that the Noble dies.

 

He spits out that chunk and heaves himself up and away from the convulsing body. Turning to where he last saw Trevor with a snarl, blood-stained teeth bared with more blood running down his chin, smeared over his mouth.

 

Alfredo’s ready to attack the Nobles after Trevor but he’s pulled up short when he sees only Trevor standing, the two Nobles dead on the floor.

 

Trevor holds his hands out and carefully steps towards Alfredo.

 

“Fredo, honey, are you alright?” He asks, voice soft and gentle like he’s talking to a scared dog.

 

Alfredo wipes at his mouth, spitting out blood and bits of skin. “Yeah. I could do with water though. This is not a pleasant taste at all.”

 

He flinches in pain when Trevor touches his shoulder, looking at where Trevor’s hand is Alfredo sees a gash. Huh, one of the Nobles must have gotten in a lucky strike or maybe it was from one of his arrows.

 

Trevor pulls him in close for a hug and they just hold onto one another for a few minutes. Trevor presses a kiss to the side of Alfredo’s face.

 

“I was so scared for you when they jumped us, I had to kill the ones on me before I could get to you, I knew they wouldn’t take you down without a fight but when I saw you there, your face covered in blood and looking so animalistic, ready to come to my aid, I fell even more in love with you.”

 

Alfredo smiles. “You’re such a romantic Trevor.”

 

Trevor laughs and they walk away from the corpses they made, away from the direction that the attack came from, back to the corridor they’d ignored in favour of that one.

 

This way leads them to a corridor that has three ways to go, a right, a middle and an end. When they glance into the way to the right, they blanch and swear heavily.

 

It's a Noble, pinned against the wall by hundreds of razor-wires, they’ve dug deep into his skin, chunks having been sliced off and fallen on the ground. What made them blanch is because one wire had caught the man in the mouth and carved his mouth open before getting stuck in the back of his jaw bone. The bottom of his mouth is draped down onto his chest, his tongue flopping down.

 

It wasn’t an immediate death either, the man clearly struggling in pain, trying to break free to no avail. He bled out from hundreds of deep cuts sliced deep into him. If they’d found him earlier, this would have been another mercy killing.

 

Alfredo pulls away from the sight, trying his best not to be sick.  "So much fucking death Trevor. I mean, I knew people were going to die but so  _ violently _ ? Fuck those priests have good imaginations."

 

“Yes I know. Some of this shit is new to me as well, that shadow stuff? Never seen that before. Genuinely some scary shit right there. Come on, we need to keep moving. We don’t know if there’s a time limit or not.”

 

They go down the middle corridor and throw themselves backwards as a giant hammer slices through the air where they just were, slamming into the wall, dust billowing up into the air. They get up off of the ground and Alfredo winces in pain.

 

“Ahh shit, I caught my arm on the wall, fuck that hurts.” He feels his arm gingerly. “Nothing seems broken, I’m probably going to have a huge fucking bruise though. Only one way left to us now then.”

 

They go that way and there’s only a few side-corridors to check out. The first two are clean but lead to dead-ends, but when Alfredo steps into third one he feels something depress under his feet. Reacting on pure instinct he throws himself back into Trevor, pushing both of them out of the way as spears are shot out to where he would have been. 

 

“ _ Fuck _ !” Alfredo curses as he catches his breath. “ _ Fuck _ . Seriously  _ fuck _ .”

 

Alfredo chances it grabbing two of the spears that are still in one piece, giving trevor one. “Here, might as well use them since we’ve got them.”

 

They continue on their way and eventually come to a crossroads. They can't go back the way they came, to their left is a large puddle of water, their right looks fairly clear but they know how deceiving that can be and in front of them there's a puddle of blood slowing getting bigger from blood seeping out of a large metal coffin.

 

By the scrapes on the floor, it looks like when whoever's inside of it stepped into the corridor, the coffin shot out from both ends and closed tight around them.

 

“Why’s there blood if its a coffin? Wouldn’t they just be trapped and suffocate to death?” Alfredo wonders out loud.

 

“It’s not a coffin Alfredo. It’s an Iron Maiden.” Trevor says, looking unnerved for the first time since they entered the maze. “I’ve seen them before. One of Nobles I killed had one. She liked to throw people into it and wash her clothes in their blood. Fucked if I know why though. There's spikes on the inside that stab the person and bleeds them to death. Tens of them piercing into you but it’s not an immediate death, they’re placed so you stay alive and bleed.”

 

Alfredo shivers, also unnerved but by the tone of Trevor’s voice not what he’s saying.

 

“Why is this the thing that upsets you Trevor? We’ve seen nastier things.”

 

Trevor looks down. “I. It. It scares me because it’s how my mentor died. The lady caught him and put him in hers. Thirteen years of training with him and I failed him. I killed the lady, got him out but he bled to death in my arms.”

 

He pauses for a second and pulls himself together. “Look Alfredo, there’s water there, I’ll go get you some to wash your face with!”

 

Alfredo stops him, taking his arm. “I don’t trust that way, or that water. I know it sounds silly but I listened to you with the shadows so listen to me about this. Think about how far, how much we’ve travelled through this maze. All of that and yet this is the first time we’ve seen water, actual water. Why is it here, it shouldn’t be  _ here _ .”

 

“Okay that is a little weird. So we go to the right then?”

 

They start walking down the right way and just before they turn the corner, alfredo looks back behind them. He frowns in thought.

 

"Trevor, the puddle of water. Is it just me or has it gotten bigger? It looks like it's merging with the blood puddle."

 

Trevor looks down the corridor and thinks for a moment before agreeing.

 

"We need to hurry the fuck up then because either the water is magic or there's something  _ moving _ the water."

 

They hurry down the corridor, now just barely glancing down the side corridor, a feeling of wrongness setting into their bones about the water left behind them. They bump into someone and they get ready to fight before they see it's a scared Jeremy who somehow got ahead of them.

 

Jeremy shushes them frantically and whispers "There's a giant bear ahead of us. It's between us and the middle, I  _ saw _ the middle, I know it’s right  _ there _ but the bear would kill me before I could get even get close."

 

Alfredo thinks for a moment. "Maybe if we all go together? Trevor and I have spears, we move as a group as quietly as possible. If it shows interest in us, we stay facing it and back away. Using the spears to try and keep it at a distance because we wouldn't be able to kill it with just two spears."

 

They carefully start to move, doing their best to be quiet. They see the bear and like Jeremy said, it's  _ giant _ . It's also eating the body of some poor fucker that it caught. They're almost to the safety of the middle when the bear notices them it bellows and charges at them. They run for it since they're so very close to the middle.

 

Trevor gets into the safety of the middle, running through the silvery barrier. Jeremy and Alfredo are almost there when Alfredo gets swiped at by the bear and it knocks him over. Trevor screams in fear as he realises that he can't get back through the barrier to save Alfredo and that there's nothing he can do.

 

Instead of letting Alfredo get killed by the bear and get to safety himself, Jeremy grabs the spear that Alfredo had dropped and stabs at the bear, catching it in its face, making it roar and back off just long enough for Jeremy to grab Alfredo and charge through the barrier with him.

 

The bear slams against the barrier a couple of times furiously and then leaves to go either finish eating or to hunt some other poor fucker.

 

Jeremy laughs in relief at finally getting to the middle. Trevor grabs Alfredo and kisses him deeply, thankful that he's still alive.

 

Trevor turns to Jeremy. " _ Thank you _ . Thank you so much for saving him."

 

Jeremy shrugs. "You guys were so nice to me at the start, stopped me from charging in. I couldn't let you get killed by a bear like that. Not when we were so close to the end."

 

They look around the middle to see how they leave this horrific maze. There's a stone altar with a fist-sized ruby set into it with writing engraved into the stone saying to touch the gem.

 

They touch it and the world spins around them, a sharp yanking feeling around their middle like someone is pulling a rope tied to them.

 

They stumble forwards and they’re suddenly in the middle of a camp set inside of a forest. It’s clearly deep inside of the forest as the trees are enormous, reaching high up into the sky, their canopy blotting out the sun.

 

A Priest comes up to them and greets them.

 

“Hello and well done for getting here. May I lead the three of you to a place where you can be healed of your wounds. There’s also food, drink and a place to rest. You won’t be attacked here, there’s a magic bond of non-violence until the Second Test tomorrow.”

 

They follow him because they’re all hurt, hungry and exhausted. Jeremy splitting off when he sees someone he knows.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Alfredo and Trevor wake up just before it starts to turn light, well before any of the Nobles wake up. They may have only slept for about six hours and still dreadfully tired but they need to be aware for when the others wake up. Magic bond of non-violence or not, neither of them is willing to risk it. Not after having killed several of the Nobles in the maze.

 

They share a few kisses in the peacefulness and the solitude of their little tent before they makes their way out to try and find something to eat and drink. The Priests are very helpful, if a little unnerving to be around, and give them some bread to eat, guiding them to where a barrel of water is sat. The bread is eaten quickly, a mixture of being hungry and a lifetime of eating food before it’s taken from you. They drink from the barrel with their hands, quickly giving themselves a wash and wake-up.

 

It’s not long before the Priests wander around the camp, waking everyone else up. The others get given food and shown where water is, Alfredo and Trevor backing away once the first person comes for water. The Priests give everyone a little time to finish waking up before they bring everyone together to listen to what the High Priest has to say.

 

“ **The start of the Second Task is soon, you cannot kill each other in this one, nor harm someone. You all simply have to get out of the forest with an offering to the Mother. This forest is immensely deep, but the way out is four days travel to the East, there’s a Temple right outside of the forest. Any offerings must be something that the person has gathered or killed themselves. We'll see the ones that make it in four days time.** ”

 

“Nice to see he’s still possessed then.” Alfredo remarks to Trevor quietly as they watch the Priests come around to everyone, gifting them with a knife, a spear and a bow and arrows.

 

They thank the Priest who gives them their gifts, waiting for them to leave before they continue talking.

 

“What do you think it is?” Trevor asks, just as quietly. “The Mother, The Crown, or just him trying to sound impressive.”

 

“I’m hoping that it’s the third one to be honest.” Alfredo says, thoughtful. “Because if you think about it, if it’s the Mother then She’s a lot more interested in the Challenge then we thought and that can be dangerous  _ or _ it’s the magic in the Crown and that’s a lot scarier because that means that the Crown has some form of life to it.”

 

“... That’s certainly something to think about.”

 

Looking around the area they’re in, Alfredo thinks about where they are, what they need to do. And whilst the Nobles are leaving the tiny clearing, Alfredo strips his shirt off leaving himself in just his vest.

 

He ties off the neck of the skirt, then the arms, giving it a good shake after and checking that the knots are solid ones that will hold. Pleased with how it held, Alfredo hands it over to Trevor.

 

“Food sack.” He says at Trevor’s inquisitive look. “This looks like a strong and healthy forest, plenty of plants, trees and animals. We can’t rely on finding food  _ when _ we’re hungry so we should gather as we go.”

 

Alfredo closes his eyes to stop any visual distractions and listens intently, raising his hand when Trevor starts to speak. He’s listening out for a certain noise and very faintly in the distance to his left he hears it.

 

“We go that way.” As he points to where he can hear the sound coming from. “Water’s that way, let’s go.” And he starts walking, knowing that Trevor will follow.

 

“Soooo, why are we going for water now. Not trying to find which way is East or finding an offering or something.”

 

“What did you get taught about the wilds, about plants, trees and the like Trevor?” He inquires.

 

Trevor hums in thought. “Not much really, nothing beyond poisonous and healing plants and mushrooms. Just enough to teach me poisons and antidotes.”

 

“Barnabas taught for for eleven years  _ everything _ he knew. He didn’t always teach me in the best way, but usually in the way that would make me understand. When I was younger I didn’t understand why he was always so insistent on knowing where water was whenever we were out in the wilds.”

 

Alfredo pauses to carve off some mushrooms from a tree, dropping them into the food bag.

 

“So I kept asking and asking and asking until finally he showed me why. It’s because without water, we suffer a slow and painful death over the matter of days. He stopped me from drinking at all, kept the water from me, lead me away from water. It didn’t take long for me to feel them effects of being unable to drink.”

 

Some berries and a handful of plants join the mushrooms. Alfredo refusing to look at Trevor.

 

“Within the day I was thirsty as fuck, my mouth was dry, I couldn’t cry, I didn’t sweat. As time grew on, I got weaker and weaker, my head felt light, like holding my breath for too long. I started having issues walking, with focusing. Then it started to hurt, my whole body seizing up around me, I was vomiting and my chest felt like a bird was trapped inside of me.”

 

Alfredo looks at Trevor, dead serious. “The worst parts is the hallucinations and the desperation. You start to see things that aren’t there, sometimes it’s people, sometimes it’s  _ things _ . And then someone offers you some water and it’s the most amazing thing ever to you. But they take it away, give you the briefest of reliefs before the pain starts up again. When they ask you what you’ll do for water, you’ll find yourself saying that’s you’ll do anything. So  _ that’s _ why we’re finding water first.”

 

Trevor looks at Alfredo with sad eyes.

 

“Don’t look at me like that. It was harsh yes, but I needed to learn the lesson to understand how precious water is. Now come on, help me find a couple of good chunks of wood that’s about two hands wide and one hand deep, I can carve them into basic water bowls.”

 

A little bit of walking later and they find the water that Alfredo heard. They’ve got a fuller food bag, though not as full as Alfredo would like it to be and two almost complete water bowls. The water is a good-sized stream running through the trees.

 

Alfredo finds a good place for them to rest a while and gives everything but his knife to Trevor to look after, tucking the knife into his belt. He checks out a few trees until he finds a suitable one and then with grunts of effort, he starts to climb it.

 

At the highest Alfredo can climb without breaking the tree, he can just about see the Sun over the heavy canopy and that it's to the left, since it's still well before midday, that way is East. He climbs down carefully, keeping track of where he knows East to be.

 

“Our left is the way we need to start walking in. Thankfully it looks like the river runs East, so we should be alright on water as long as we stay near it. The rest of our first day should just be gathering food as we walk East. We can hunt for an offering when we're further out of the forest and have some idea of where the temple is. I don't particularly want to carry around a corpse for four days, that's telling all the predators that there's easy food right here."

 

They walk for the rest of the day, gathering food and drinking when they're thirsty. They don't see anyone else at all but they do see a rabbit which Alfredo kills, It's going to be their dinner tonight. When it's starting to get dark, they make a fire and get ready to sleep for the night after eating the rabbit and some of their stored food. They taking turns sleeping for safety, mostly from predators but also from anyone who wants to try and start something.

 

The second day, they wake up with the sun and start walking in the direction of where it's rising, staying near the river for water.

 

"You're very relaxed right now Alfredo, it's a good look for you." Trevor mentions.

 

"This is a perfect Test for me, I'm in the forest, I'm doing what I was taught to do. The Nobles can't kill or harm us. We're at the mercy of the wilds, hunting for our own food and water, walking the land and sleeping under the stars, well trees really. This was my life for so long, I  _ thrive _ here."

 

Later in the day, just before midday, they come across Jeremy trying to find food for himself, he's gathered some that actually looks fairly edible but he's about to take a plant that alarms Alfredo. He starts getting up out of the crouch they fell into and Trevor grabs his arm to stop him.

 

Alfredo glares down at Trevor and hisses "He saved my  _ life _ remember Trevor. I  _ owe  _ him that favour back. If I die in this Challenge, I refuse to die  _ owing  _ someone."

 

He comes out of the forest to where Jeremy can see him saying "Don't take that plant Jeremy, it'll kill you."

 

Jeremy's startled but when he sees that it's Alfredo, he cocks his head. "Wait really? I thought it was safe?"

 

"No it's not safe, I know my shit. You see the flowers that it's hiding under? That's sneezewort, you can tell by the loose clusters of snow-white flowers and the long spear-tip leaves. The leaves are edible but the plant is poisonous to cattle, sheep and horses, deer as well, which is why it's been left alone. That plant you were about to take is Yarade, you eat that and you choke to death. You can usually find these two together. See the way the leaves are egg-shaped, dark red and kind of fleshy looking?" Alfredo informs.

 

"Oh, oh dear. Well it's a good thing you told me then. Where's Trevor? I've never seen you without him."

 

Trevor walks out from behind the tree next to the Yarade and Sneezewort bush. “Right here, was just killing this snake.” And holds up the headless body of said snake.

 

“Tell you what Jeremy, you come along with us for the day, I’ll teach you about some safe plants and mushrooms you can eat, and you can sleep through the night with us. Safety in numbers and also you know that we won’t attack you, the rules of this Test and the fact that you’re Jeremy.” Alfredo offers.

 

Jeremy thinks for a moment and then agrees. Alfredo points the way to go and as Jeremy walks ahead of them, Trevor mouths, “What the fuck are you doing?” Gesturing at Jeremy. Alfredo mouths back, “I owe him! What were  _ you _ doing behind that bush!?”.

 

Trevor shakes the snake body roughly at Alfredo before tossing it away. Snakes is not a good meat after all.

 

“So! Jeremy, Trevor and I, we joined because as silly as it sounds for a Challenge, we thought it’d be worth a go. Why did you join?”

 

Jeremy rubs the back of his head. “Well, uh, I'm the fifth child of my family and we've recently lost a lot of money, like, a  _ lot _ . I was vowed to one of the sons of Lord Bragg since we were born but when we lost the money, the Lord decided to stop the betrothal between us. We're in love but we can't be married, not without bringing dishonour to both our families. So I figured that if I win and become King, there's fuck-all they can do to stop us being married."

 

Trevor and Alfredo give each other looks of 'Fuck that's a soppy reason' behind Jeremy's back.

 

The rest of the day is spent walking quietly, interspersed with Alfredo helping Jeremy by pointing out things to him that are safe to eat.

 

"Those are sloe berries. Found in a bush that's about... your height actually. The branches are usually very stiff and spiny with black bark. The berries are fairly sour as well unless picked just after the first frosts, they do make a good wine though."

 

"Ah dandelions, they're a good food and very plentiful since no-one wants to eat a weed. Best thing about themis that you can eat all of it, the leaves, the stalk, the flower, the roots, maybe not the seeds. Eat them in moderation, too many eaten and you start pissing like a racehorse."

 

"Oh look! Wood ears! These are so good, You see how they're shaped like an ear and facing down? There's another mushroom very similar but it faces up instead. Only eat the down facing ones. Also don't remove all of them, leave some so they eventually grow back."

 

They shoot down several small birds to share for dinner that night, taking turns to sleep through the night. And if Alfredo and Trevor are just in a light doze, ready in case of attack, well, Jeremy doesn't need to know.

 

In the morning they wake up Jeremy before they leave and tell him that this is where they part, they wish him good luck and start walking again.

 

They walk for several hours until at about midday, Alfredo stops Trevor with a hand on his chest. "Did you hear that? It sounds like a herd of deer panicking."

 

“Is it a predator?”

 

Alfredo shakes his head. “No, if a predator was attacking, only one or two would be making noise, the rest would be fleeing.This sounds more like stupid Nobles trying to hunt.”

 

They go to investigate and come to a high cliff that's looking over another cliff where there's a herd of fifteen or so young bucks trapped at the edge of the cliff by four Nobles with spears, jabbing at them, trying to push them off of the edge.

 

"Idiots!" Alfredo hisses. "They've clearly never hunted before, look at that! They're going to get killed!"

 

Trevor gives him a wry look. “You going to save these ones as well?”

 

Alfredo snorts in disgust. “Fuck no, I don’t know them, I don’t owe them shit and they’re stupid hunters. I’m more worried about the bucks.”

 

As they watch, the largest buck at the front, rears up and kicks out at the Nobles. The herd are stamping and blowing, clearly scared and ready to run but nervous about the humans in front of them. They need something to kick them into action.

 

"You see the two at the back closest to us." Alfredo points out which ones he means. "You know where to sink in a couple of arrows to kill it fast?"

 

“The lungs right? Just behind the front legs.” Trevor’s notching his arrow, readying himself.

 

Alfredo nods "Yeah. On my mark, you shoot that one further back and I'll shoot the one in front of yours."

 

"Ready. Aim. Mark!"

 

They fire at the bucks, managing to kill the ones they aimed for and also setting the herd off. The stags dip their heads and charge forwards, goring three of the four nobles, tossing them aside. The one that dodged the antlers doesn't manage to get out of the way of the herd completely and is trampled to death.

 

Alfredo and Trevor wait for the herd to leave and the gored Nobles to finally die and then they make their way down to the two bucks they'd killed. Alfredo makes sure they're dead and not suffering, then field dresses them, leaving their insides on the ground for the wildlife to eat.

 

Alfredo checks which way the Sun is once more because now it's well past midday and the Sun will be to the West now. Once situated, Alfredo says "Right, as soon as we pick these up, we don't stop for the night, we walk for as long as we can. We can take breaks but not for long. Predators will want this meat and we should get it to the temple as quickly as possible."

 

They pick up the buck bodies and start to walk non-stop, ignoring the way their bodies complain, their shoulder and legs ache. It takes so very long, walking throughout the night with the briefest of stops so they can get feeling back in their arms and shoulders.

 

But they finally find the way out of the forest and see the Temple. When they get there an hour later, they are met by a Priest who guides them to where they need to take the offerings. Once offered to the Mother, they are taken away to get cleaned up because they're covered in blood and stink. Now they're clean they're shuffled off into a room where they're given some bread and water, good bread too, and left to sleep.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

A few hours later they’re woken up by a series of knocks on the door to the room they’re in. when they say to enter, a Priest comes in.

 

“Challengers, it’s time for your Third, and final, Test. You are to be prepared now. One of you come with me, the other shall go with my Sister.”

 

Trevor goes with the Sister, Alfredo with the Priest. They share a glance when they part ways. They’ve been together the whole Challenge, it’s a little uncomfortable being separated now.

 

Alfredo is taken to a room filled with weapons and leather armour. The Priest tells him to put on armour that fits and to find any weapons that he can use properly in a fight. Alfredo puts on as much armour as he can and still move in it. Curious he tests some of the armour not on him and they're of solid make, good leather, good bindings.

 

He picks up a blade, checking it out, humming in surprise. These are high quality weapons, made of metal and sturdy woods. Not something you just offer to people, this is Noble level of armour and weapons.

 

Alfredo tests some of the bows that are on offer until he finds one that works well for him. He gets a good-sized quiver and puts as many steel arrows as it can hold. He searches through the knives and daggers, finding some that he likes the feel and weight of, tucking them away into his armour.

 

When he's done, Alfredo informs the Priest that he's ready and the Priest takes him into a small fighting ring with a chest high wall. The Priest steps back and the door behind Alfredo seals shut. Alfredo looks around him and he sees, at a quick count, seventeen other people. One is Trevor, another is Jeremy so that's sixteen enemies for him to fight.

 

The High Priest appears in a stand above the one exit that no-one is in front of. " **This is the last Test, the one you've all been working towards. This Test is the defining one, all you have to do is to be the last one alive. You may start whenever you're ready** ." He says with an extravagant sweeping of his arms.

 

Everyone is nervous, looking at each other, none of them wanting to be the first person to attack. Alfredo & Trevor look at each other across the distance, knowing that this could be the last time either of them are alive. Then Alfredo grabs two arrows from his quiver and fires at the only other archer, sinking the arrows into their neck, killing them first since they're the bigger threat to him right then.

 

His killing that archer sets everyone else off into fighting, shouting and weapons clashing. Because of the size of the fighting ring, Alfredo only manages to kill three more enemies with his arrows, double-shooting each one to make sure they die before someone gets too close.

 

With a yell, a Noble charges at Alfredo, his sword raised. Thinking fast, Alfredo drops the arrow he had notched and smacks the man across the face with his bow. His guard broken by the unexpected attack, Alfredo takes the advantage given to him and uses his bow to pull the Noble's sword arm up out of the way, stepping into them and stabbing their throat open with one of his daggers.

 

Alfredo shoves the Noble's dying body away from him, the Noble collapsing to the ground grasping at his throat. He's already back on his guard as another Noble tried to use their fight as a distraction so she can impale Alfredo with her spear.

 

She's fast and clearly knows how to use a spear, jabbing at Alfredo, keeping him at a distance. It takes some dancing around and allowing her to score a blow, slicing into his left arm, but Alfredo manages to get behind her. He dips down low and slashes out at her ankles, severing the tendons. Unable to stand anymore, she falls over, dropping her spear which Alfredo picks up and stabs through the back of her head, in the soft spot where the skull meets the spine.

 

With no-one immediately trying to kill him, Alfredo takes the chance to breath and looks around. there's only four other people still alive, he sees Trevor is fighting one to his right and Jeremy is fighting the other.

 

As Alfredo looks at Jeremy's fight, it happens so fast, Jeremy stabs his enemy in the shoulder, forcing him into dropping his sword. Jeremy yanks his own sword out from them and then yelling in effort he swings his sword up underneath the man's face, slicing off the front of his head.

 

Jeremy turns to fight Alfredo with blood-rage on his face and for the first time, Alfredo is scared of Jeremy. Alfredo scrambles to get the sword dropped on the ground from the guy who he sliced the throat of.

 

He brings it up just in time to defend himself from Jeremy's slash. They fight  _ hard _ , Alfredo is left on the defence because the moment he isn't, Jeremy will kill him. Jeremy's definitely winning this fight though as he may be smaller but he's also a good deal stronger than Alfredo and in an almost berserker rage.

 

Jeremy stabs Alfredo in his leg and then slams his fist into the side of Alfredo's face. Stunned, Alfredo drops like a stone to his knees in front of Jeremy. 'This is it, I'm dead. Oh  _ Trevor _ .' He thinks, seeing the way Jeremy's swinging his sword down to take his head off. Alfredo refuses to close his eyes, he'll see his death coming with honour.

 

A sword blocks Jeremy's swing from connecting and Trevor sinks a dagger into Jeremy's side. Jeremy backs off sharply as this time it's  _ him  _ on the defence because Trevor is attacking even more brutally than  _ he  _ was, intent on protecting Alfredo.

 

Trevor chops Jeremy's sword arm off at the elbow and stabs him in the stomach with the dagger. Jeremy is brought to his knees in front of Trevor, like he did with Alfredo but there's no-one here to save  _ him _ .

 

Trevor knows he's won. "In another life we could have been friends. Shame." He stabs his sword down into Jeremy's shoulder, burying it to the hilt and then yanking it out. Jeremy collapsing onto the ground, slowly drowning his own blood.

 

Trevor helps Alfredo stand, Alfredo crying out in pain when he tries to put weight onto his leg. Trevor and alfredo walk-hobble over to below the High Priest.

 

"We've won your Test." Trevor calls up to the High Priest.

 

" **There is still two of you alive. We need only one.** "

 

"Having two of us would work better. two chances to crown someone." Trevor says. "Besides I  _ refuse _ to kill him. Not here. Not under your orders."

 

Alfredo's light-headed now, leaning heavily against Trevor. He's so tired, everything's starting to go fuzzy. But Trevor's alive. That's all that matters.

 

" **No you won't kill him here will you.** " the High Priest says thoughtfully. " **Let them through. Heal them both.** "

 

The exit opens up and they're allowed to walk out of the ring. Trevor murmuring to Alfredo. "We did it love, we won. We won."

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Alfredo focuses back into the present as the Crown touches Trevor’s head and after a minute waiting for the magic to kill him, the crowd of Nobles start to cheer as the Crown accepts Trevor as the new King. Trevor allows them to fawn over him before he excuses himself from them and asks a guard to guide him to the King’s quarters. Alfredo silently joining them, walking besides Trevor.

 

The last set of doors close behind the pair of them, standing in the King’s bedroom, cleaned for the new King. And as it locks shut, Alfredo feels all of the weight fall off of his shoulders. They made it. They’re King’s now. The weight of  _ that _ can wait until tomorrow, until after their celebration.

 

Alfredo gently guides Trevor to the massive bed and makes him sit down. Alfredo sits down next to him.

 

“We made it Trevor. You’re the King now.” Alfredo kisses Trevor’s hand, his wrist, turns his head so Alfredo can kiss Trevor’s mouth. Feeling Trevor kiss him back, his hunger rising to match Alfredo’s.

 

“Come my King, strip those clothes off and claim your prize. I’ve missed your touch, the way you feel inside of me.”

 

Trevor growls and yanks his own clothes off before turning on Alfredo who laughs in delight as Trevor tears at his clothing, scratching him in his haste.

 

Both naked, Trevor presses Alfredo back into the soft bed, his fingers digging into Alfredo’s hips. When Alfredo feels those fingers start to slide down between his thighs, he hums in delight.

 

“ _ Fuck _ .” Trevor mutters into Alfredo’s shoulder. “No oil.”

 

Alfredo giggles. “I’m already prepared Trevor. I knew you’d be King, so I’m all slick and ready for you to claim me.”

 

He feels Trevor freeze for a second before calloused fingers are pressed between his asscheeks where he is indeed, oiled and stretched as Trevor’s fingers easily slide into him. They’re swiftly removed and Alfredo gasps as Trevor roughly shoves himself into Alfredo, spearing him open.

 

Trevor bites at Alfredo’s shoulder and neck as he claims Alfredo. Alfredo arches in pleasure underneath of him, wrapping his legs around Trevor’s waist so Trevor can better fuck him. He moans as Trevor sinks his hand into Alfredo’s hair, tightly grabbing it and dragging his head back as Trevor marks him up.

 

“Fuck Alfredo.  _ Fuck! _ My heart, my love, so perfect for me. Such a good fuck, so tight and mine, all mine! No-one else ever gets to have you. They can’t take you from me now. My mate, my King, my  _ whore _ .”

 

Alfredo whimpers as Trevor’s words wind their way into him. He is, he is. He’s Trevor’s. His love, his whore, anything he wants of Alfredo, Alfredo will give him. He can’t think of his life without Trevor, can’t think of anyone else claiming him as fiercely as Trevor does. Makes Alfredo  _ know _ who he belongs to. Know that no-one else could ever know him as well as Trevor.

 

His nails scrabble at Trevor’s back as the pleasure builds in him, Trevor always knew how to fuck him senseless and it’s been so long since Trevor’s fucked him, the Challenge not giving them enough time together. Both of them always aware, on edge, never safe enough around the others.

 

Alfredo whines out Trevor’s name as he cums, clutching tight around Trevor’s cock, cum covering both of their stomachs. The delicious pleasure gets dragged on, into the area of almost too much as Trevor hammers into him savagely.

 

His moans get swallowed by Trevor as he viciously kisses Alfredo, intent on reminding Alfredo who he belongs to. Alfredo full-body shivers as he feels Trevor snap his hips forward hard and hot pulses of cum fill Alfredo up. Trevor making sure that Alfredo doesn’t try to move by dropping his full weight down onto him and keeping himself buried inside of Alfredo.

 

The comforting weights of Trevor pinning him down and his cock inside of him settles something in Alfredo he wasn’t even aware was off-kilter. He purrs in satisfaction and lazily swaps kisses with Trevor.

 

“My King” He murmurs. “My beloved. I’m forever yours.”

 

Alfredo feels Trevor hum in agreement. It’s a few minutes of content cuddling as Trevor slowly softens inside of Alfredo. Once there’s no denying that Trevor’s no longer inside of him, Trevor gets up to where their clothes had been thrown and picks up his flask from on top of his trousers.

 

Alfredo perks up, Trevor always has good wine in that flask and he  _ is _ thirsty. Trevor crawls back onto the bed and offers Alfredo the flask before lying down next to him. Alfredo takes the lid off and swallows a couple of mouthfuls of the wine before offering the flask to Trevor.

 

“No thank you, it’s best that you finish drinking that wine.” Trevor says with a sad look to him.

 

Alfredo’s about to question what he means when the aftertaste of the wine hits him and he’s filled with betrayal and grief. A sickly sweet taste is on his tongue and the wine wasn’t a sweet one.

 

Strangler Toxin.

 

Poison taken from the Yarade plant, the plant that he’d saved the now dead Dooley Lordling from eating. Both he and Trevor knew how to use it but for it to be in Trevor’s flask, the one that he never let out of his sight. That meant…

 

“No. Trevor. No.” He whispers in horror.

 

Alfredo limply allows Trevor to pull him in close, putting his head down on Trevors chest. His mind can’t handle what he knows to be true. Trevor loves him, he loves Trevor. Why would Trevor  _ do _ this? Was he not good enough? Does Trevor have someone else waiting in the wings to be his King or Queen?  _ Why _ ?

 

Alfredo knows what Strangler Toxin does, despite its name it’s actually one of the nicer poisons. Just taking the person’s breath away, not hurting them or making them convulse. He also knows that it works better in larger quantities so as tears starting to run down his face, Alfredo drinks the rest of the wine, letting the empty flask drop out of the way.

 

He’s not sure what hurts more, the fact that Trevor poisoned him, the fact that he cared enough to make it a gentle death or the fact that he knows that even now Alfredo can’t bring himself to hate Trevor, can’t bring himself to strike him. After all, Alfredo loves him too much to ever think of hurting Trevor.

 

Alfredo can hear the steady thrum of Trevor’s heart and continues to cry as he feels the poison start to affect him, his hands going numb and it starts to get hard to breathe.

 

“Why?” He asks in a broken voice. “Was I not enough? Do you not love me anymore Trevor? I would have left, I would have done anything you asked me too. It would have hurt less than this. Not by much but as long as you were happy.”

 

Alfredo feels Trevor deeply sigh and then try to wipe away some of Alfredo’s tears.

 

"I'm sorry Alfredo, I'm so sorry but all the other rulers were killed by the ones they trusted the most, the ones they loved. There's no-one else that I love or trust more than you and I can't take that chance, I can't. There’s no place for you here now. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. I’m sorry my heart.”

 

“I... I would never… have turned… on you… Trevor.” Alfredo gasps out, the poison working as intended and strangling him. “ You are… the most… beloved… to me… my Sun.”

 

“I know, I’m sorry, I love you. Forgive me.” Trevor whispers.

 

Alfredo weakly smiles, he knows that Trevor can’t see his face, doesn’t want to have that image in his mind. Alfredo’s a fool in love, he really is.

 

“I… forgive... you… I… love… you… always.”

 

He can’t fight the poison much more and he doesn’t really want to anymore. Alfredo closes his eyes and lets the consuming darkness take him into unconsciousness. At least he’s dying in Trevor’s arms is the last thought he has.

 

Now that Alfredo is unconscious, Trevor allows his own tears to slide down his face into Alfredo’s hair as he listens to Alfredo’s body fight to stay alive. He knows that despite the horrible wheezing noises being made, they’re not what’s going to be haunting his dreams. 

 

Trevor’s committed a terrible sin against the only one who ever mean anything to him. He let his fear of what  _ might _ have happened ruin the what  _ should _ have happened. He’s killed his heart and his heart forgave him, but he can’t forgive himself. The thought is there briefly, to join Alfredo in death but he knows that doing so would make what he’s done a ruinous mistake.

 

Alfredo’s body jerks several times in his hold as his body finally loses the war against the poison. Only now is he fully dead. And the full weight of what he’s just done completely hits Trevor.

 

He killed Alfredo.

 

Alfredo is dead.

 

Gone.

 

Not ever coming back.

 

All over some  _ stupid _ piece of metal and power.

 

Oh sweet Mother what has he  _ done _ ?!

 

Trevor wails in agony and clutches at Alfredo’s dead body. He killed  _ Alfredo _ . The only person he’s ever loved. The only person he could ever love. Carefully he rolls Alfredo off of his chest and touches Alfredo’s face.

 

“Alfredo? Honey? I’m sorry, please, please come back? Please I’ll do anything. I’m sorry. I need you. I, I don’t know what to do without you.”

 

Trevor lets out a grief filled moan as there’s no response. Because of what he did. Because he did this. He did this! He did this! HE DID THIS!

 

He throws himself away from Alfredo’s body, off of the bed, away, away, away. Screaming in rage and despair at his own stupidity, Trevor tears through the bedroom, tossing chairs, breaking tables and tearing the curtains down. He sees his reflection in the mirror hanging over the fireplace, a mess of a man and in rage he throws the closest thing at the mirror, smashing it into glass.

 

Trevor’s rage and grief rushes out of him and he’s left wobbling before sinking to the ground, sharp bits of wood digging into his skin but he doesn’t care. He feels empty. Nothing.

 

Because he is nothing. He is nothing. Nothing.

 

Alfredo is dead and Trevor is empty.

 

He gets up slowly and walks over to his clothes, putting them on. Trevor picks up Alfredo’s clothes and dusts them off. Trevor goes over to Alfredo’s body and uses the bed covers to clean his body before gently putting his clothes back on.

 

He goes over to the door of the bedroom and opens it. As expected there are guards on either side of it.

 

“One of you is to go find a place in the King’s Mausoleum for my King. The other is to find the others who could hear what happened in there and tell them that if it spreads beyond their own mouths, I’ll skin every single one of you, slit the throats of the adults in your family, throw the children out into the streets and destroy your homes. Am I understood.”

 

They snap to attention and salute smartly before going to do his bidding.

 

Trevor closes the door and starts to walk around the bedroom, tapping his fingers against the walls. One place sounds the slightest bit different to the others so he focuses, finds the way to open it and yanks it open, making the maid behind it scream. He drags her out by her hair and yanks it up until she’s looking at him.

 

“Listen to me my dear. When the guard comes back to tell me about the Mausoleum, I will be leaving to bury my King. You and the others will clean this bedroom up and change it so it looks nothing like it does now. There’ll be plenty of time. You will also tell the others that heard what happened here what I’ll do to them. And since I was a commoner before the Crown accepted me, I know  _ all _ of the pathways you take. So be smart.”

 

He lets her go and watches her scurry away down the servants hallway. Trevor closes the door and goes to sit down on the bed next to Alfredo. He will wait. He has all the time in the world now.

 

And so begins the rule of King Trevor the Heartless. Long may he reign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alpha, I hoped you liked this. You did ask for heavy duty angst after all. <3 you tho. This was such a good prompt for me to work with. I've never written this much so fast!


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